Houlihan

[Bluez]

He frustrates me more than any other Carlton player.
Cant lay a tackle, or take a contested mark. Did anyone see him pull out of the pass to Gehrig, when it barely went over his head to see gehrig mark the ball. think it was the 3rd quarter. That play sums him up for me. No hardness at all and is a good front runner when we were winning.

 

[out of harmes' way]

Negative = couldn't tackle his missus in bed.
Postives= silky skills good finisher

Should only be played as a forward.

 

[dukester95]

Struggled to contain Milne last night....agree with most fans he should be played up forward. A good decision maker we need as a target alongside Fev, Edwards, Fish, Kreuzer, Betts/Ellard. I'd rotate Judd up forward for a few weeks also.

 

[wdgann]

he is a class player and can't understand why he is so maligned - easily one of our top 5

he should play up forward

 

[Blues_Man]

Good player is Ryan ..and he tackles as much as anyone on our team ..those who consider him soft need to actually watch him sometime.

Theres a Freo player our there who doesn't consider him soft.

He has great skills, which unfortunately we can't say about too many players on our list

I agree that he should play forward, he's not a defender.

 

[BlueYoss]

Why do we insist on putting him in defence? He is not a defender.

Admittedly he's much better suited to the attacking half of the ground, but for now it's more about plugging the holes we have while we develop young players to come in and take them (Just like Waite is much more damaging as a forward, but for now he's our best option at CHB).

I think when one of Anderson or Armfield are ready for senior selection Hoops will be released back into the forward line, until then we really don't have anyone who can play on small forwards, and in spite of the popular opinion regarding his lack of accountability or defensive 'bones', he has done some very good defensive jobs on small forwards for us in the past.

 

[Jezza U Beauty]

Hit the nail on the head blueyoss.

Yes Houla would be great to have across half forward or on a wing, but maybe we don't have anyone who we can replace him with across half back who can do a satisfactory job of hitting up targets coming outta defence whilst under a heap of pressure. A lot of supporters seem to have no idea how important it is to have guys like scotland and houla across half back, or of the value of their contribution.

There's a reason that coaches have guys like andrew mcleod etc across the half back line.

I agree that it'd be great to have houla delivering the ball to our forwards, but it's a question of balancing that against the need to have someone with good foot skills, reading of the play, composure and evasiveness on the other flank from scotty...

 

[1eight6four]

Hoops kicking is sublime. I would be curious to know how many of Fevs 06 Coleman goals had Hoops accurate passing somewhere in the chain.

My opinion is nothing special - get some games into someone like Browne, Anderson or Armfield - and keep Hoops forward.

I can see him in a premiership side. His footskills are exceptional and his pace/evasiveness is good. He defensiveness is not as bad as the constant negative hype suggests. Further he brings experience and stability.